The present disclosure relates generally to methods to determine a boundary of a cement mixture deployed in a wellbore as well as downhole acoustic communication networks operable to determine the boundary of the cement mixture.
A wellbore is often drilled proximate to a subterranean deposit of hydrocarbon resources to facilitate exploration and production of hydrocarbon resources. Sections of casings are often coupled together and deployed in the wellbore to insulate downhole tools and strings deployed in the casing as well as hydrocarbon resources flowing through casing from the surrounding formation, to prevent cave-ins, and/or to prevent contamination of the surrounding formation.
A cement job is usually performed to fixedly secure the casing to the wellbore. In some embodiments, a cement plug (bottom plug) having a diaphragm that ruptures or breaks when a threshold pressure is applied to the diaphragm is deployed in the casing. A predetermined volume of cement slurry is then pumped into the casing. The predetermined volume is often calculated based on a desired volume of an annulus between the casing and the wellbore that the cement slurry should fill to fixedly secure the casing to the wellbore. The pressure from the cement slurry exceeds the threshold pressure, thereby causing the diaphragm to break and allowing the cement to flow past the bottom plug. A top plug is then inserted into casing and a displacement fluid is pumped into the casing. Pressure from the displacement fluid forces the cement slurry until the desired volume of the annulus is filled with the cement slurry. The displacement fluid may then be pumped out through the casing or through another annulus and the cement plugs may be drilled out, or dissolved.
Although the foregoing cementing process is often practiced in the oil and gas industry, existence of one or more leaks in the formation surrounding the wellbore may cause the predetermined volume of cement slurry needed to complete a cement job to deviate from the actual volume of cement slurry needed to complete the cement job. Further, imprecision and calculation errors related to determining the volume of annulus that the cement slurry should fill may further cause the predetermined volume to deviate from the actual volume.
The illustrated figures are only exemplary and are not intended to assert or imply any limitation with regard to the environment, architecture, design, or process in which different embodiments may be implemented.